Britain's Labour leader makes pitch to working families

BRIGHTON, United Kingdom (AFP) – Britain's opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband positioned himself as the champion of hard-pressed working families on Tuesday, using a speech to his party's annual conference to promise an energy freeze and higher wages.

In a rousing address in Brighton on the southern English coast, Miliband accused Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative-led government of being out of touch with the lives of ordinary people.

As the economy shows signs of recovery, prompting ministers to proclaim their austerity drive a success, Labour has focused on what it has called a crisis of living standards as it gears up for the general election in 2015.

At the heart of Tuesday's speech was a pledge to freeze electricity and gas prices for 20 months if Labour takes power, a likely vote winner even if it puts the party on a collision course with energy companies.

Miliband also promised to raise the minimum wage, build 200,000 homes a year by threatening developers who "sit on the land" with losing it, and reverse the coalition government's reforms of the National Health Service (NHS).